Friday, December 16, 2011

Small business owners need to be able to access funds for operating costs. Small businesses need presenters to come to them and explain how to utilize solar and wind technology to cut their skyrocketing utility costs. They need financial help to institute these energy changes.

When we help the small business, sector we truly help America. As it stands now, the small business sector is still being decimated. The industry can no longer be used as an economic indicator.

The Trib issued a statement saying that they endorsed Obama in 08 and continue to endorse certain initiatives...wow. Mr. Chapman said Obama should go relax on a beach somewhere and "wrestle" the cap off of a Corona instead.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Today the President spoke on the American Jobs Act and for how it will be financed. It will will be a balance of restructuring social programs, the tax code and rescinding temporary tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and wealthiest American companies because they don't need them anymore.The GOP is fussy about the tax breaks because they want the wealthiest to continue to get them. The President said it s time to live within our means without starving the poorest Americans in the process.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

He told the crowd this at a rally in North Carolina this week while discussing the American Jobs Act. The President asked everyone listening to call their legislators and ask them to support the bill. Speaker of the House, John Boehner said today in a speech that raising taxes on the rich would not meet congressional approval. I don’t know why he said that but he seemed to think that his peers would not initiate a tax on the nation’s wealthiest to accommodate those who look to the American Jobs Act to alleviate joblessness. Personally, I pray a lot. I pray for our nation’s leaders that they do what Jesus would do if He were in their position.

This video is about how the American Jobs Act will affect our nation’s public educational system.

Open for Questions: Youth and the American Jobs Act

Michael Pyle, Special Assistant to the President for Financial and International Markets and and Roberto Rodriguez, Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy take your questions on how the American Jobs Act will impact young Americans.

Monday, September 12, 2011

President Obama seems to be the only politician who cares and is doing something to get the American People back to work and yes, we the People have noticed that. Fair share tax talk is what have certain folks arms up in a panic, not the Jobs Act. I have never seen in modern times, a bigger group of people willing to take from the poor to preserve the rich than I have now. It is a shame. Help the president help the People, please. Those of us down at the bottom are who fuel this economy because we are here, stateside all of the time. We live where we work and we buy where we live and where we work. We, the American People complete this circle. This country needs to start producing again and we can all come up one step. How much profit is really needed to be wealthy and superwealthy? Who of your wealthy and superwealthy friends would notice any type of fall-off when you all rise and fall together? Oh, I see, your wealthy and superwealthy European, Asian, Turkish, Mediterranean Middle Eastern, African or Hispanic counterparts would notice. Personally, I think they would follow your example because American wealth is always center stage.

After a certain superwealthy earning point, you are only showing off your wealth and in these turbulent economic times isn’t conspicuous wealth a bit gauche? (Especially with the eyes of your constituency staring darts into your growing pocketbook!)

GOP, Congress, please help the president finance this American Jobs Act. Remember, people are a much friendlier when they have money and quick access to money. Fewer complaints, more votes and you guys can go back to whatever it was that you were doing up there on the Hill and we can go back to shopping at our favorite department stores and running up credit card debt, starting businesses, hiring people and the general act of buying and selling that makes my capitalist country great. If you don’t help, we the People will be sitting around broke, grouchy, monitoring the news, monitoring the Hill and reexamining how we cast our votes and for whom the votes are cast. Remember sweeties, perception is everything and you guys live in a translucent bubble!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I was faxing a resume and clips to Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois in reference to a position. I had just dropped my son off at pre-school and daughter at a near by elementary school. I remember the television still being on channel 11 PBS Chicago because the children were watching it. I saw a plane run smack dab into a building out of the corner of my eye and thought to myself, 'how stupid can people be? How do you not see a skyscraper?' (Apparently, I thought the whole thing was a documentary, according to the video.)

I did not know because the sound was down. When I kept seeing a repeat of the plane hitting the tower, I changed the channel because it was depressing. But the transmission was the same. Every channel I turned to had what would be come to known as the 9/11 Tragedy.

I finally sat down from the fax machine and watched as the second tower was hit. I could not image who would want to do such a thing! We must be under attack!

Newscasters had video to show the public because it was such a gorgeous day that day and everyone had a video camera it seems in New York. They said terrorists were responsible and were obviously angry at the fact that our nation's security had been breached in a most egregious way. Neutrality would not have been appropriate. Then the news changed: the Pentagon was hit. It took about three minutes for that to sink in before I was putting my coat back on and yanking my kids from school. I knew if terrorists were responsible, that it very well may be on like Donkey Kong for the USA. If we were under attack, the last place my children needed to be was away from me!

The Pentagon had never been attacked before -- ever! That meant war, in my small, plain-citizen mind.
Before leaving home, I called my mom -- several times. I told her about what I saw on television. She was watching a taped re-run of "Murder She Wrote," on a cable station then that transmission was interrupted so mother turned and turned again and the transmission was the same -- the planes! Mom said not to worry because America was always safe. I pointed out that the Pentagon had been hit. She was silent for a moment but told me do not disrupt the children's day in school and above all, do not panic. I didn't listen. I tore out of the house to get my kids.

When I arrived at the school, the staff asked why I was so flustered and I told them. They had blank stares. Then I asked them when, in their or their parent's lifetime, had they heard of our nation's capital being under attack? The Pentagon had been hit. The women looked worried and began to make calls of their own.

Dropping my children off at my mothers (dad was at work), it occurred to me that these events happened in D.C. and New York and that I was helpless to do a thing. I was numb then I remembered my hair appointment so I went to it. The woman who did my hair had a son in who was in the military. He called her and told her what was going on, how military aircraft had been scrambled to intercept. All of the women there talked about their theories, their take on what happened. Nine Eleven was a new experience for everyone.

My editor called me in to work afterwards. I was still numb but I remember asking people their feelings about the events had occurred that day, like a little robot. I barely heard responses, I was on autopilot. I filed the quotes with the newspaper editors but cannot remember what happened the rest of the day. I watched news coverage of 9/11 the next day. The things I heard from newscasters were repeated one other time and then no more information. I will never forget it.

Years passed and I remember taping some 9/11 memories on some of the anniversaries. I remember having to explain, eventually to my son, 9/11 as he was writing a report on it. I have researched the events that happened that day on my own as well but I know one thing: I have a different feeling, a different view of where I live. We are not impenetrable. We are not automatically safe. Safety cannot be left up to first responders and the military -- it is up to all of us who live in the United States and want to keep it safe.

Improvements have to be made to our communication systems and how we think about others who do not live here or care for our system of government. I am forever suspicious --suspiciously alert to any abnormality on the horizon. I feel as if 9/11 won't happen again but it doesn't hurt to be careful.

It's like I took the wrong Matrix pill and now live in the belly of a ship eating gruel out of sardine cans. I want the olden days back but they are gone like the Towers, gone like my editor, Richard Grey, gone like my ex-husband, Bill--gone and never,ever coming back.

Friday, September 09, 2011

I had a blog entry all ready to post from the five pages of notes I wrote during the president's speech Thursday but I said, 'Nah, don't post it yet.'

Here is a collection of other people's impressions from around the Web. If you will notice, however I titled this post "The American People Jobs Act," so that nay sayers against the Act can understand that to downplay or nix this pending legislation is to downgrade the average American person who is looking for a job--and why would any true, red-blooded American want to do something like that?

Oh I forgot-- it would be a sad, continuing effort by so-called adult members of Congress to hurt the president personally. Okay, take it outside boys and girls. Don't waste America's time with your privileged, rich girl and boy partisan, disconnected-from-reality tickle fights. We do not have time for it. Furthermore, it would be my suggestion to you that if you have a job/career to go to, then go and do said job whilst you still have one because by the grace of the Almighty, I don't know who voted for you and I bet they are sorry now. (Except Wall Street--the entity puppeteering the Tea Party Movement) Help the president help the American People and be a real member of the GOP for a change and not this creepy, satanic, neo-conservative blend you have become. I will tell you what I really think in another post.

We the People | The White House: Throughout our history Americans have used petitions to unite around issues they care about. We the People provides you with a new way to petition the federal government to take action on a range of issues. And if your petition attracts enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it is sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

As President Obama makes his way through the Midwest, key phrases, concepts and ideas are brought to mind. On Wednesday, the president talked to farmers about farming.
Many people do not understand the importance of farming and farmland. Here is a little bit of information I researched and wrote while in training at Mahalo.com. Enjoy!
Farm: -
A farm is a unit of cultivated land set aside to grow, raise and produce agricultural products or fuel.1 Farms employ 17 percent of the labor force and the U.S. food and farming system contributes nearly $1 trillion to the United States national economy— which is more than 13 percent of the gross domestic product. 2
...and here is the president...

Friday, July 29, 2011

Has Wall Street Abandoned Obama?: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"Let them hear your voice-- your true voice--Mr.President.Convince them, remind them of hope... Barack is the president of the United States of America.Americans are beat up and tired and scared. We have never been here, in this place before.(Remember when Moses had to convince the Jewish Nation to leave Egypt for their own good?) Where should we be led Barack? We need a fresh horse. AND IT IS NOT THE TEA PARTY.

Obama has now given congressional leaders until Saturday morning to reconsider their positions. 'It's decision time. We need concrete plans to move this forward,' Obama said on Thursday, the fifth day of talks, following an inconclusive negotiating session.

Financial markets, which have previously viewed the negotiations with calm, are beginning to get nervous amid fears that Republicans and Democrats may be unable to reach an agreement by Aug. 2. Any default on the part of the US could have incalculable effects on global financial markets and could hurt the fragile recovery in the US. Moody's and Standard & Poor's have warned they may cut the country's top AAA credit rating if a solution isn't reached.

Republicans want any increase in the debt ceiling to be met by spending cuts equal to the same amount, as well as more serious efforts by the government to address the debt problem. Democrats are open to certain cuts but want tax increases in return. With presidential elections coming up in 2012, neither side wants to be seen as ceding ground.

On Friday, German commentators react with concern to the ongoing stalemate.

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

'The bitter debate in Washington about raising the debt ceiling has largely left the financial markets cold. … The market players apparently expect that an agreement will be reached in time. That's the only possible explanation for their surprisingly calm response.'

'We can only hope that the top politicians in Washington take Moody's warning seriously, despite the relaxed response from the financial markets so far. A US default and a lower credit rating would … send stock prices through the floor and could choke off America's economic recovery -- with global repercussions. The politicians in Washington are playing with fire. A swift compromise is needed. Nobody needs a US default.'

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

'It's actually unimaginable. On August 2, the US could, for the first time in its history, become insolvent because the Republican majority in the House of Representatives refuses to raise the ceiling on the national debt. But until now, everyone is acting as if it will all be OK and the politicians in Washington will come to their senses in time.'

'The Republicans are playing with fire. Nobody can imagine what the repercussions might be if the unthinkable happens and the US is suddenly no longer a safe haven for investors. Anything is possible, from a small, barely perceptible amount of turbulence in the financial markets to a global panic. Congress should think carefully about what it is doing.'

The conservative Die Welt writes:

'In this period of competing debt crises, America and Europe are looking at each other in amazement, with each side understanding less and less about what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic. While Europe's chaos is obvious to the Europeans and the rest of the world, there are few signs of self-doubt or self-awareness in the US. In the middle of the poker game between the two political parties to prevent a national default on Aug. 2, polls show that 77 percent of Americans believe that they live in the world's greatest system of government. Just as many are convinced that life is only worth living as an American.'

'Democrats and Republicans are so hopelessly embroiled in a religious war that compromise and pragmatism are just dreams from a far-off era of reason. …

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I awoke with the thought that the reason the unemployment rate is higher in the black community and among teens is because neither group owns the means of production to anything worthwhile. We should have way more printing presses circulating in the black community because communication at that level is the easiest and most effective thing to own. Newspapers sit around for weeks staring at you begging you to either read it, recycle it or throw it away. Broadcast has to travel by word-of-mouth after its 30 seconds are gone.
Where are our advertising agencies? Where are our television and radio stations? We should have them by the 100s of thousands, constantly telling ourselves what ever it is we want to be reminded of or know. Have you ever noticed that we as a country don't share our local news readily? How would the vast majority of us know whether or not we were all experiencing the same thing if network news did not tell us? It would be back to word-of-mouth and telephones just like the olden days.

The lack of these items in our community relates to a deficiency in jobs or rather viable career paths. Plenty of black folks major in these areas in college (if we are allowed and yeah, I said it) but then we have to go a beggin' to other community groups for the work. Those groups are selective amongst themselves between rich and poor. Blacks deserve the same opportunity to make those decisions but we do not get the chance to do so. We have not given ourselves the right to make these places viable work options.

It is for this reason our communications and news is filtered mostly though sets of eyes and minds that do not work like ours do and do not understand what we know. Gatekeepers of another color, creed, race, religion in some instances a whole 'nother agenda. That is why we do not know every little thing our favorite black celebrity is doing. Now, if given the choice of more privacy and freedom or more money, many of the black glitteratti would choose the latter--bet. And there would be more black glitterati--maybe you or another person you know.

It is for this reason, our nation's first black president has to have his message spun in a million different directions. There are no black news or communication agencies that broadcast nationally. None. Not everyone is on the Web. The bulk of our black wealth is not on the Internet. They look on television broadcasts and newspapers for a reflection of self but all they see is criminality--a concept many cannot relate to as they follow the law and God.

So let us decided to do this thing for ourselves because from that point, businesses will erupt and create commerce like a seedling in the springtime. We all have to provide food, clothing and shelter for ourselves so we need black farms, black textile factories and black construction companies. Competition in the economic arena in the form of capitalism leads to flourishing advertising and marketing. And there we have our economically viable black community. All we would have to do is to populate it, educate it, guide and direct it.

The black farm needs workers and heavy equipment so let us, like we do in Farmville, create the means of production to do this. We would need a steel foundry--Gary has plenty but not owned by blacks or Americans for that matter however, I'm sure at the right price we would be in business together. The company that creates heavy earth moving equipment gets steel from them and the black farmer buys the tractor. Everybody works and makes money. The few black banks we have would have to finance our endeavors, so on and so forth.

Of course this is a simplistic, Stone Soup way of looking at a very layered and complicated mission but if we were ever in the position to have to do this, we would be able to do so. There would be a group of like minded individuals who would rise about the rest and become the true black bourgeois, keeping us fed, sheltered and clothed because they would not be able to afford selfishness and greed to lead their decisions because that would lead to death very quickly. And there would be jobs aplenty--so much so that black women would go back to the old days and start having babies earlier in life to keep up with the demand our society would place on itself. Those women would be charged with the duty of being a mom and wife and her husband would be able to support his family legally, ethically and morally.

Editor's Note:I prefer the Stone Soup analogy to the one of Allumette the original. I grew up reading Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales--the American version of Allumette. (Whatever dudes, the girl starved to death outside of the French bakery but she died hallucinating that she had a cornucopia of delicious baked goods.)

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Health savings accounts matches by the state is still money and it is apparently money the state of Indiana does not have. If they had money to fully fund this plan, then they would not be unscrupulously kicking people off the plan by stealthy changing the mailing address to where payments are sent and then claiming not to have received payment. I have seen companies do this before to get more money out of the Indiana resident. The state gets to keep 25 percent of the contribution and you get nothing--legally. And on paper it seems as if HSAs are a great deal. Well I guess they are if they aren't being used in a scammy-type way.

That is right people. When people were needed to populate the plan so that it could appear to be a viable way to provide affordable health care insurance, Healthy Indiana Plan went out of it's way to make sure anyone who wanted health care could get health care. Now that the economy has taken a nose dive it is difficult to fund. However when the state wants to make a big show of how well they can balance a budget, cuts are made. This way it looks as if they were correct and had a good plan all along and appear to have a balanced budget. Liars and cheats go to hell. I know if they are doing this across the board they are affecting the elderly and poor. Do not balance the state budget on the backs of the elderly and the poor. I have never seen anything so poorly managed in my life.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Republican campaign theme cannot be "our focus is to get Obama out of the White House."What has he done that he should be made to leave? Keep his campaign promises? Please.

All republicans right now look like robberbarrons who have ripped off their base for the very last time, last month. Your base is waiting for you neo cons to leave so they can have their party back. So when you get your house together, then get a decent candidate, maybe your base will have you back into the fold.Your base is just as broke as everyone else. Big business and the corporate right are keeping you afloat and also keeping the jobs away from the American people--to spite us for voting for Obama--a regular person--not an out-of-touch intellectual--and to spite the president himself.Shame on you. Not everyone knows the top one percent and their corporate girl and boy Friday. Us proletariat usually just call you guys "they."The invisible they. When blogger start calling you out, things are pretty bad down here where us working folks and poor live.Food costs are at an all time high and so are fuel costs. We are embroiled in skirmishes across the globe and being asked to enter more wars than we can afford to enter. America as the cash cow has ended because a real person is at the purse strings. President Barack Obama is a normal person who went to law school and got married and had some kids. Only, he took it to the next level and ran successfully for public office. He made serious changes while there and took a shot at the top spot and won.He and his supporters have been taking some serious stripes for that for three years. He is not a blue-blood, rich guy. Generations and generations of his family don't have silver spoons to pass down the lineage. So that makes Obama a regular guy who had to pay off his student loans and pay utility bills and worry over kids and how they are doing in school and his mom and his grand mom--just like everyone else who can't hop in a spaceship and zoom away if the world explodes or something else as ghastly.I will not be punished or blamed for using my democratic right to vote for the best candidate. I don't have a job so I read a lot now. And I look at the people in charge. I read faces too. I'm just a pawn on a chess board when I'm not totally invisible or considered unimportant. Myself as a Democrat and my neighbors as Republicans are in the same boat, different ends and we are tired of the unfruitful bull crap that is constantly floated past our noses. Some of these candidates run under the assumption that "the people" will take whatever you have to give and you can say one thing then do another. No more. All presidents will be held to the standard Obama has set because he has raised the bar for elected public officials.

The President is willing to make tough spending cuts on the end that can best afford it and they protest. The President refuses to bring harm to the poor, middle class, working class, disabled, elderly and sick.

Afghanistan - Yahoo! News Photos: These people are burning our president in effigy. What a turnaround of events. First, he was the best thing since chicken noodle soup and now this. Fickle fantasy land people. Now we know what could become of the nation's first black president in the minds of those outside the U.S.--business is business and blacks ain't the push over. Deal with it!

Israel does not like the U.S. Middle East, North Africa policy shift however negotiations are never kindly and most of the time, both parties are upset at the outcome. However, it is fair.Most people want things to go their way all of the time and with effort, they get their wish. It is not so when a third party negotiator is evenhanded, like our president.He is no respecter of persons. There has been no windfall for blacks in the nation, nor Democrats. What is fair is fair, for all--even if we are unhappy *ungrateful* for it.This article highlights some of these ideas.

Monday, May 02, 2011

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces Monday, then quickly buried at sea in a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run.

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, and to use those dollars to invest in clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

High oil and gasoline prices are weighing on the minds and pocketbooks of every American family. While our economy has begun to recover, with 1.8 million private sector jobs created over the last 13 months, too many Americans are still struggling to find a job or simply just to pay the bills. The recent steep increase in gas prices, driven by increased global demand and compounded by unrest and supply disruptions in the Middle East, has only added to those struggles. If sustained, these high prices have the potential to slow down the pace of our economy’s growth at precisely the moment when we need to be accelerating it.

March 30 video

While there is no silver bullet to address rising gas prices in the short term, there are steps we can take to ensure the American people don’t fall victim to skyrocketing gas prices over the long term. One of those steps is to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks to the oil and gas industry and invest that revenue into clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Our outdated tax laws currently provide the oil and gas industry more than $4 billion per year in these subsidies, even though oil prices are high and the industry is projected to report outsized profits this quarter. In fact, in the past CEO’s of the major oil companies made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic exploration and production without special tax breaks. As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can’t afford these wasteful subsidies, and that is why I proposed to eliminate them in my FY11 and FY12 budgets.

I was heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry. Our political system has for too long avoided and ignored this important step, and I hope we can come together in a bipartisan manner to get it done.

In addition, we need to get to work immediately on the longer term goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and our vulnerability to price fluctuations this dependence creates. Without a comprehensive energy strategy for the future we will stay stuck in the same old pattern of heated political rhetoric when prices rise and apathy and neglect when they fall again.

I recently laid out my approach to a comprehensive strategy in my Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, which includes safe and responsible production of our domestic oil and gas resources and doubling down on fuel efficiency in the transportation sector while investing in everything from wind and solar to biofuels and natural gas. None of you will agree with every aspect of this strategy. But I am confident that, in many areas, we can work together to help show the American people that we can make progress on an energy policy that creates jobs and makes our country more secure.

And I hope we can all agree that, instead of continuing to subsidize yesterday’s energy sources, we need to invest in tomorrow’s. We need to invest in a 21st century clean energy economy that will keep America competitive. In the long term, that’s the answer. That’s the key to helping families avoid pain at the pump and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

God's grace saves anyone who believes and follows him. Jesus said, "For I and the Father are one." Follow Jesus because God cannot accept you except if you come to him by Jesus. However, the choice is yours to make. Happy Resurrection Sunday!(the choir sounds wonderful)

We’ve got some very special guests here today. First of all, my former seatmate in the Illinois state senate who is doing gangbuster work all over the state -- Attorney General Lisa Madigan is in the house. Where is Lisa? Where is she? There she is. (Applause.)

A guy who I basically follow around to see what he eats and drinks so I can look like him, somebody who never ages, always doing the right thing on behalf of communities all across the state, especially here in Chicago -- Secretary of State Jesse White is in the house. (Applause.)

Our newly elected Cook County President, one of my earliest supporters, and also my former alderwoman -- so I hope that my garbage is still being picked up -- Toni Preckwinkle is in the house. (Applause.) She’s around here somewhere.

And then I have to admit that I got a little confused. (Laughter.) I walk in and there are these two guys talking, both of them very animated, both of them a little intimidating, even though they’re not tall in statute. (Laughter.) I was trying to figure out who I should bow to first. I decided to go with the current mayor -- (laughter and applause) -- somebody who has done more to make Chicago not just a great American city but a great world city, and his legacy is going to be deep and lasting, as deep and lasting as his father’s was. We are grateful for his service -- the mayor of the city of Chicago, Richard Daley. (Applause.)

Bill is doing okay, Rich. (Laughter.) I mean, you know, there are times where he’s still kind of figuring out where everything is -- (laughter) -- but overall he’s making the grade. Of course, he had some big shoes to fill. And I could not be prouder of the job this man did on behalf of America as my chief of staff.

As Bill knows, there probably is not a harder job in government than being chief of staff. You get all the blame and little of the credit, and the pressures are enormous and they are constant. And I rely extraordinarily heavily, given everything that’s on our plate, on the person who essentially oversees the executive functions of the White House.

And so I am blessed now to have a great chief of staff, but I also am so lucky to have had in some of the toughest times that we’ve seen since the Great Depression somebody who is not only a great manager, a great strategist, a great political thinker, but also my friend. Yes, he is foul-mouthed. (Laughter.) Yes, that finger thing is a little creepy. (Laughter.) But I love him anyway, and, Chicago, you did the right thing by electing him the next mayor of the city of Chicago -- Rahm Emanuel. (Applause.)

Where did Rahm go? He’s in the back somewhere. He’s cutting a deal of some sort. (Laughter.)

Look, I don't want to make a long speech, mainly just because even though I'm not supposed to do it, I just want to go around and say hello to everybody -- (applause) -- because as I look around the room, I've got as good a collection of friends from every stage of my life in this room as anybody could hope for.

I've got people who helped me get started as a lawyer. I've got folks who helped me get started in politics. I've got folks who worked with me down in Springfield. I've got people who were some of my earliest supporters in my congressional race -- (applause) -- and nursed me back to health after a beating. (Laughter.) I've got folks who believed that I might be a United States senator when nobody could pronounce my name, long before I made a speech in Boston. And then I've got people that had the faith that I could perform the functions of the highest office in the land. (Applause.)

I've got some folks who taught with me at the University of Chicago. (Applause.) I've got some Hyde-Parkers in the house. (Applause.) I've got some folks who were there the summer I met my wife and folks who were there when my children were born. So as I look across the room it’s a record of my adult life and the people who helped me to become the man I am.

The last two and a half years have obviously been extraordinary. We understood when we put together our presidential campaign that the country was entering a crossroads, that we were going to have to make some fundamental decisions about who we were and who we are as a people. And I got into this race for President because I believed that what makes us great is our incredible commitment to individual freedom and individual responsibility; the fact that with some pluck and some hard work and some good fortune, here in America anybody can make it, regardless of race or creed or station.

But what made us great is also the fact that this collection of people from all around the world are somehow able to come together and pledge allegiance not just to a flag but to a creed; that we’re able to join together in this common enterprise; that we’re able to look out for one another; that when we make it, we’re saying to ourselves, who else can we pull up the ladder; that there’s a sense of community that is not defined simply by ethnicity or where we go to church or mosque or synagogue or temple, but a commitment to each other that somehow is greater than the sum of its parts.

That's why I decided to run for President. That's why you supported me. Those are the values that you helped teach me when I first came to Chicago so many years ago. And those values have been put to the test over the last two and a half years, because Americans have gone through a tough time.

I can’t describe night after night reading the letters that I get, the emails that I get, from people all across the country -- just heartbreaking stories: Children talking about their parents losing their jobs or losing their homes and wondering if they're going to be okay; folks sending out job application after job application after job application and nothing coming back.; parents of young men and women who’ve been killed in action, trying to describe how proud they are of those kids even though their heart just aches, and asking to make sure that as the Commander-in-Chief that I am living up to that full measure of devotion that they displayed.

And so for the last two and a half years, what I’ve tried to do is to make sure that every day when I wake up, I remember why I ran and I remember why you supported me. And whether it was passing a Recovery Act that would get the economy back on its feet and put people back to work; saving an auto industry that a lot of people had written off; making sure that we had a financial system that is functioning but also one that was sufficiently regulated, that consumers got a fair shake; making sure that we brought combat in Iraq to a close; making sure that anybody can serve in our military regardless of their sexual orientation -- (applause) -- making sure that in a country as wealthy as ours nobody is going bankrupt because they get sick, and no parent has to worry about selling their house because their child has a preexisting condition and he can’t get health insurance -- (applause) -- making sure that we got more women on the Supreme Court and that one of them is a Latina -- (applause) -- and making sure that women get equal pay for equal work so that my daughters when they come up -- (applause) -- are going to have the same chances as your sons.

Each and every time we’ve had to make a decision, my guiding principle, that North Star, has been those values that we talked about during the campaign: I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper. A belief in an America that is competitive and compassionate. A belief that there’s nothing we can’t accomplish if we come together, and that we have to think big in terms of what we need to accomplish.

And we’ve made extraordinary progress, but we still have so much work to do. There’s still too many people out there writing me letters that don’t have a job; too many folks who are worried about losing their home. There’s still too many kids trapped in poverty in cities and rural areas all across America that we haven’t been able to reach. There’s still discrimination out there. There’s still unfairness and injustice out there.

We’ve still got 100,000 troops in Afghanistan -- who are remarkable and doing everything they can to keep us safe. We still have roads that need to be fixed and bridges that need to be repaired. We still need an energy policy that doesn’t make us vulnerable to whatever spikes in the world oil market might occur.

Right now, there are folks in the Chicago-land area who are every day trying to figure out how am I going to fill up my gas tank. And all the tax cuts that we provided to help working-class and middle-class families, they’re worried about those tax breaks being entirely eaten up by $4.00 a gallon gas.

We still have to worry about making sure that as the world’s largest economy, as the world’s wealthiest nation, that we’re taking the lead when it comes to climate change. (Applause.) We still have an obligation to make sure that we have an immigration policy in this country that matches up with our values as a nation of laws, but also a nation of immigrants. (Applause.) There are still small businesses out there just waiting to be started if they’re getting the right financing. There are still young men and women who are just ready to seize the moment as engineers and scientists if we’re just making sure those research grants are flowing. And we got to do all this in a context, as I talked about yesterday, in which our fiscal challenges are real.

The speech I gave yesterday was not a partisan shot at the other side. It was an attempt to clarify the choice that we have as a country right now. (Applause.) We agree, Democrats and Republicans, that we’ve got to come together and have a government that lives within its means, that is lean, is smart, is effective; that we’ve got a country that pays its bills and isn’t borrowing 30 or 40 cents for every dollar that we spend. That is imperative.

And if we’re progressive, we’ve got to care about the deficit just as much as the other side does, because we won’t be able to fund the research that's necessary, or the Head Start programs, or the college loan programs, or the infrastructure that we need, unless it’s on a firm, solid footing.

But how we get there is important. And you’ve got right now one side that I believe is entirely sincere that says we no longer can afford to do big things in this country. We can't afford to be compassionate.

We can't afford Medicare so let’s make sure that seniors get a voucher, and if the health insurance companies aren’t giving them full coverage or they can’t afford coverage with the voucher they get, tough luck, they're on their own.

It’s a vision that says we can’t afford to rebuild our roads and our bridges. We can’t afford high-speed rail. We can’t afford broadband lines into rural areas so that everybody can be a part of this new global community. We can’t afford to make sure the poor kid can go to college. We can’t afford health care for another 50 million people. That’s the choice they pose.

Now, understand, it is a choice. Because they’re absolutely right -- if people like me, if most of the people in this room, can’t afford to pay a little bit more in taxes, then a lot of this stuff we can’t afford. If we’re insisting that those of us who are doing best in this society have no obligations to other folks, then, no, we can’t afford it.

But if we’re willing to go back to our deepest roots and say to ourselves, you know what, that’s not how America was built, that’s not how we became the greatest nation on Earth, that’s not what the American way is all about; if we say to ourselves I do have that commitment to that child on the South Side or on the West Side or out in the south suburbs, for them to succeed, too -- my life will be better if they succeed -- this is not charity, this is a good investment for me because I want to live in a society where all those kids have a shot; if we say to ourselves, you know what, I want people to have health care, I don’t want them going into the emergency room and sitting and waiting, and then getting the most expensive care; I think it makes sense for us to have a more effective health care system and one where everybody has basic coverage; if we’re saying to ourselves, I want to make sure that Malia and Sasha and your children and your grandchildren, that they’re inheriting a land that has clean rivers and air you can breathe and that's worth something to me, that's something I want to invest in because when I’m all finished here and I’m looking back on my life, I want to be able to say, we were good stewards of the planet --(applause) -- if that's what we believe, then we’ve got the ability to do that. We’ve got the ability to do it, and it doesn’t take that much. It just doesn’t take that much.

If we apply some practical common sense to this, we can solve our fiscal challenges and still have the America that we believe in. That's what this budget debate is going to be about. And that's what the 2012 campaign is going to be about.

And so over the next three months, six months, nine months, I’m going to be a little preoccupied. (Laughter.) I’ve got this day job that -- (laughter) -- that I’ve got to handle. And it means that I’m not going to see all of you as often I’d like. It means that I’m not going to be able to make that phone call to you and thank you even though my gratitude is profound.

It means that all of you are going to have to remember why I’m standing here, why we were successful -- because it wasn’t my campaign; it was your campaign. It was your investment. It was your time. It was your energy. It was your faith and it was your confidence that is allowing me to try to live up to those values that we share.

And if you remember that, and if you take ownership for that, and if you are just as fired up now -- despite the fact that your candidate is a little older and a lot grayer -- (laughter and applause) -- then I have every confidence that we are going to be able finish the job.

If you've ever heard of the phrase champagne taste on a beer budget, you've found me. I make soap from scratch because regular soap does not agree with my skin, I recreate restaurant meals at home, create appliances I cannot install or afford (yet,) and in general, I figure out a way from no way. I pray a lot too. Join me on my journey. It will be fun.

Everything you see me do is for entertainment purposes only. All of my experiments are for my purposes only. It's fun to watch.

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William James McCloud III

I hadn't heard anything on the Fourth of July holiday and that was strange. I had the urge to call the day before but since I have a history of being pushy, I let it go.
On the fifth, my birthday, it was my obligation to find out what was going on. It wasn't like Bill to not want to light firecrackers with little Billy on the holiday--it was a yearly debate.
I hoped he wasn't in jail. Illness had not crossed my mind. I thought he was the picture of good health but the things we think can be wrong.
Lauren's Birthday party June 14--the last time we were all together.
He was in the hospital.
William James McCloud III died July 15, 11 days after entering the hospital--after telling his wife Jennifer he wasn't feeling well.
Bill left work early that Wednesday, after consuming an energy drink. Apparently he was having a heart attack. His arteries were blocked.
Bill was only 38 years old. His birthday is next month and his mother tells me a big celebration had been planned.
Bill was my husband. He is the father of my two children. Even though we decided to live separate lives, we still cared for each other. We cared enough to let each other live in peace and stop the fighting. We got along because we wanted to.
Now, he is gone and I feel my former better half has left me alone. When in personal crisis, he was my go-to-guy.
Goodbye, Bill you are loved and I will make you proud and bring honor to your good name.
In Love,
Lauren, Billy and Leslie

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